Ministry of Jal Shakti
Ministry of Jal Shakti Announces Winners for 'Water Heroes Share Your Stories Contest’ for The Month of November 2022
The Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti has launched the 'Water Heroes: Share Your Stories’ contest. Till date, three editions of the contest have been launched on MyGov portal. The 1st edition was launched from 01.09.2019 to 30.08.2020. The 2nd edition was launched from 19.09.2020 to 31.08.2021. The 3rd edition has been launched on 01.12.2021 and ends on 30.11.2022.
The objective of the contest is to promote value of water, in general, and for supporting country-wide efforts on water conservation and sustainable development of water resources. In accordance with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a large population should be motivated to adopt the cause of water conservation in the country. The aim is to create awareness for water conservation by enhancing knowledge and sharing experiences of water heroes; and to create an attitude towards water conservation and management so that a behavioral change can be created amongst all stakeholders.
- In accordance with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a large population should be motivated to adopt the cause of water conservation in the country
- The objective of the contest is to promote value of water, in general, and for supporting country-wide efforts on water conservation and sustainable development of water resources
- The aim is to create awareness for water conservation by enhancing knowledge and sharing experiences of water heroes
- The aim to create an attitude towards water conservation and management so that a behavioral change can be created amongst all stakeholders
- During 2020-22, about 762 Chal-khals or water ponds with total rainwater retention capacity of more than 16 millions of rainwater have been constructed
For the month of Nov’2022, there are three winners, they will get a cash prize of Rs. 10,000/- and a certificate, details given as below:
 Shri Bapu Bahusaheb Salunkhe: He belongs to Nashik, Maharashtra. He has received National Water Mission Award in 2019. He has been encouraging farmers to do rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, well recharge, borewell recharge in their fields by using minimum water through drip irrigation and micro irrigation. On his request around 800 - 1000 farmers have made watersheds in their fields, and these watersheds are filled in the rainy season through rainwater harvesting. He has also made two big watersheds in his farm, which get filled during the rainy season, which is utilized for farming activities.
 Ms. Gungun Chaudhary: She utilized pot as a water saving device. She has used double-walled earthen pot, with the outer wall of the pot that is water resistant. Water is poured in between the two walls, which seeps through the inner wall to the plant as needed. Thereafter, she covered the space between the walls of the pot, so that it does not evaporate and goes out. With this method, one pot could save around 150 glasses of water in a month. She has installed around 400 pots in 40 houses in 3 villages. In this way she could save plenty of water in a month.
 Shri Vaibhav Singh, IFoS: He is Indian Forest Service Officer, serving in the middle Himalayan belt of Uttarakhand, the forests of Rudraprayag Forest Division. Since he took over as DFO in August 2019, he started building a soil moisture conservation  structure which include Chal Khals , contour trenches, check dams, percolation pits, among other such structures, in an organized and planned manner. During 2020-22, about 762 Chal-khals or water ponds with total rainwater retention capacity of more than 16 millions of rainwater have been constructed. A total of 2010 Check Dams were made which resulted in thousands of tons of top soil conservation along with increasing ground water percolation with eco-restoration of 472 hectares of degraded forest land by construction of contour trenches and percolation pits.